1^21.] collected in Southern Cameroon. lOS 



all sliow the characters which Reichenow assigned to this 

 race. In no single specimen is there any trace of the pale 

 hlue eyebrow streak as in M. g. gularis, and in all but 

 two the feathers of the breast are streaked intermittently 

 with red. 



In addition to the specimens obtained by Mr. Bates 

 in Cameroon, there are in the British Museum two birds 

 from north Angola obtained by the late Dr. Ansorge and 

 eight birds from the northern Belgian Congo (Uele River 

 and Aruwimi River districts). There is no question but that 

 these birds belong to the southern form M. g. australis. 



Besides the specimens enumerated we have five birds from 

 Gaboon, and here we are faced with a difficulty. Reichenow 

 ( Vogel Afrikas, ii. p. 313) calls the Gaboon bird M.g. australis, 

 and obviously this should be the case ; but of the five birds 

 before me, three at any rate are inseparable from typical 

 M. g. (fulariSy having the wide pale blue eyebrow streak 

 and no indication of red on the feathers of the breast. On 

 the other hand, two other specimens from Gaboon have the 

 characters of 31. g. australis clearly shown. Had the speci- 

 mens similar to the typical form been secured in Cameroon 

 and not in Gaboon (two were collected by Du Chaillu and 

 the other is from the Gould collection), it would have been 

 easier to explain their presence than is the case now. 



Melittophagus variegatus variegatus. 



Merops variegatus Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. vol. xiv. 

 1817, J). 25 — Type locality: Malimbe, Loango. 



The five adult specimens of the Variegated Bee-eater are 

 the first which Mr. Bates has sent home from Cameroon, 

 and it is noteworthy that all were obtained by him in 

 January 1913 on tiie Nyong River at a place called Akono- 

 linga. Mr. Claude Grant figured a race of this Bee-eater 

 from Rhodesia (Ibis, 1915, p. 297, pi. iv.), and in the text of 

 his paper remarks tliat most specimens of M. v. variegatus 

 from western Africa '" have no snperciliaiy stripe or only an 

 incomplete one," noting, however, that he was unable to 

 handle a sufficient number of well-collected sj)eciniens from 



